Teaching Autonomous Systems at 1/10th-scale

Teaching autonomous systems is challenging because it is a rapidly advancing cross-disciplinary field that requires theory to be continually validated on physical platforms. For an autonomous vehicle (AV) to operate correctly, it needs to satisfy safety and performance properties that depend on the operational context and interaction with environmental agents, which can be difficult to anticipate and capture. This paper describes a senior undergraduate level course on the design, programming and racing of 1/10th-scale autonomous race cars. We explore AV safety and performance concepts at the limits of perception, planning, and control, in a highly interactive and competitive environment. The course includes an ethics-centered design philosophy, which seeks to engage the students in an analysis of ethical and socio-economic implications of autonomous systems. Our hypothesis is that 1/10th-scale autonomous vehicles sufficiently capture the scaled dynamics, sensing modalities, decision making and risks of real autonomous vehicles, but are a safe and accessible platform to teach the foundations of autonomous systems. We describe the design, deployment and feedback from two offerings of this class for college seniors and graduate students, open-source community development across 36 universities, international racing competitions, student skill enhancement and employability, and recommendations for tailoring it to various settings

IS2020 A Competency Model for Undergraduate Programs in Information Systems: The Joint ACM/AIS IS2020 Task Force

The IS2020 report is the latest in a series of model curricula recommendations and guidelines for undergraduate degrees in Information Systems (IS). The report builds on the foundations developed in previous model curricula reports to develop a major revision of the model curriculum with the inclusion of significant new characteristics. Specifically, the IS2020 report does not directly prescribe a degree structure that targets a specific context or environment. Rather, the IS2020 report provides guidance regarding the core content of the curriculum that should be present but also provides flexibility to customize curricula according to local institutional needs

Aplikacja metody HIA (Ocena Wpływu na Zdrowie) dla poprawy jakości szkolnictwa zawodowego w Polsce

Wstęp. Głównym celem pracy jest próba odpowiedzi na pytanie w jakim stopniu przygotowana w Polsce zmiana w organizacji i funkcjonowaniu szkolnictwa zawodowego może mieć wpływ na zdrowie młodego pokolenia wybierającego ten rodzaj edukacji. Zdrowie w tym przypadku będzie szeroko traktowane i rozumiane nie tylko w kategoriach długości życia skorelowanych z poziomem wykształcenia, ale także z poczuciem prestiżu zawodowego, uzyskiwaniem kwalifikacji niezbędnych na rynku pracy i ogólnego dobro - zgodnie z definicją WHO, z uwzględnieniem społeczno-ekonomicznych uwarunkowań zdrowia. Cel pracy. Głównym celem badania jest wykazanie w jakim stopniu zmiany, dotyczące organizacji i funkcjonowania zawodowego w Polsce, mogą mieć wpływ na zdrowie, wybór rodzaju edukacji młodego pokolenia. Materiał i metody. Stosowane metody obejmują przegląd literatury fachowej i aktów prawnych poświęconych HIA oraz podjętym krajowym reformom w zakresie kształcenia zawodowego w Polsce. Wyniki. Wyniki odnoszą się do dwóch głównych aspektów prze-prowadzonej analizy: 1. Sytuacji młodzieży w wieku 18-24 lat na rynku pracy. Reformy szkolnictwa zawodowego w Polsce 2. Oceny wpływu na zdrowie (HIA) w odniesieniu do kształcenia zawodowego, identyfikacji zaangażowanych w ten proces instytucji. Należy zreformować kształcenie zawodowe w kierunku lepszej absorpcji absolwentów na rynku pracy, zwiększając ich prestiż zawodowy i zarobki. Szkolenie ma być bardziej profesjonalne. Zarówno szkolenie, jak i silna pozycja absolwentów szkół zawodowych na rynku pracy są odpowiedzialne za podnoszenie ich stanu zdrowia. Wnioski . W Polsce wystarczająco dobrze zidentyfikowano nie-dobory w zakresie efektywnego kształcenia zawodowego i zdrowotnego dorosłych z grup marginalizowanych. Pomimo tego założenia, teoretyczne i praktyczne rozwiązania tego poziomu edukacji nie są znacząco proponowane i rozwijane w kontekście potrzeb społecznych i zdrowotnych w tym zakresie. Przeprowadzone analizy dotyczące kształcenia zawodowego wskazują, że jest to aspekt wymagający dogłębnej analizy, której wyniki można przełożyć na działania edukacyjne i promujące zdrowie w praktyce.Introduction: Health in this case will be broadly treated and understood not only in categories of life length correlated with the level of education but also with the sense of professional prestige, obtaining qualifications necessary on the service market and general welfare – in accordance with the definition of WHO, taking into account socioeconomic health determinants. Aim of the study. The main purpose of the study is to demonstrate to what extent the change, prepared in Poland, concerning organisation and functioning of vocational education may have influence on health of the young generation choosing this kind of education. Material and methods. The methods used include a review of professional literature and legal acts dedicated HIA and the ongoing national reforms for vocational education in Poland. Results. The results relate to the two main strands of the analysis undertaken: 1. The situation of young people aged 18-24 in the labour market. Reforms of vocational education in Poland 2. Health impact assessments in relation to vocational training, the indicated (important) institutions. Vocational education needs to be reformed in the direction of better absorption of graduates in the labour market, increasing their professional prestige and earnings. The training is to be more professional. Both the training and the strong position of vocational school graduates in the labour market are responsible to raising their health status. Conclusions. Shortages in terms of effective vocational and health education of adults from marginalised groups are sufficiently well identified. Despite this assumption, theoretical and practical solutions of this education are not significantly proposed and developed in the context of social and health needs in this respect. The conducted analyses concerning vocational education show that this is an aspect requiring an in-depth analysis the results of which can be translated into educational and health-promoting actions in practice

The creation of “Questions Bank" and introduction of 2.0. examination session

In the Institute of American Studies and Polish Diaspora Jagiellonian University, with the support of the Distance Learning Centre at the Jagiellonian University was introduced an innovative method of examination based on empowering the students. During the 2014 session, the students were invited to create test questions. Accepted by the lecturer questions were used on he exam. Extensive “Questions Bank” may be used in subsequent examinations 2.0. The authors of the paper present practical advice on how to prepare and carry out such an examination. They share know how of practical suggestions from pedagogical to technical aspect of moving from teaching to learning while using the idea of Questions Bank. They discuss the impact on the motivation and creativity of students, the principles of achievement and assessment, methods of verifying the content of the questions and technical measures to make questions and hindering cheating. The use of innovative methods of preparing and conducting the exam based on the Questions Bank had a positive impact on the mobilization and involvement of students, which resulted in a very good performance evaluation questionnaires of the lecture

Expanding Paramedicine in the Community (EPIC): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BackgroundThe incidence of chronic diseases, including diabetes mellitus (DM), heart failure (HF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is on the rise. The existing health care system must evolve to meet the growing needs of patients with these chronic diseases and reduce the strain on both acute care and hospital-based health care resources. Paramedics are an allied health care resource consisting of highly-trained practitioners who are comfortable working independently and in collaboration with other resources in the out-of-hospital setting. Expanding the paramedic's scope of practice to include community-based care may decrease the utilization of acute care and hospital-based health care resources by patients with chronic disease.Methods/designThis will be a pragmatic, randomized controlled trial comparing a community paramedic intervention to standard of care for patients with one of three chronic diseases. The objective of the trial is to determine whether community paramedics conducting regular home visits, including health assessments and evidence-based treatments, in partnership with primary care physicians and other community based resources, will decrease the rate of hospitalization and emergency department use for patients with DM, HF and COPD. The primary outcome measure will be the rate of hospitalization at one year. Secondary outcomes will include measures of health system utilization, overall health status, and cost-effectiveness of the intervention over the same time period. Outcome measures will be assessed using both Poisson regression and negative binomial regression analyses to assess the primary outcome.DiscussionThe results of this study will be used to inform decisions around the implementation of community paramedic programs. If successful in preventing hospitalizations, it has the ability to be scaled up to other regions, both nationally and internationally. The methods described in this paper will serve as a basis for future work related to this study.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02034045. Date: 9 January 2014

2009 ESMD Space Grant Faculty Project Final Report

The Constellation Program is the medium by which we will maintain a presence in low Earth orbit, return to the moon for further exploration and develop procedures for Mars exploration. The foundation for its presence and success is built by the many individuals that have given of their time, talent and even lives to help propel the mission and objectives of NASA. The Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) Faculty Fellows Program is a direct contributor to the success of directorate and Constellation Program objectives. It is through programs such as the ESMD Space Grant program that students are inspired and challenged to achieve the technological heights that will propel us to meet the goals and objectives of ESMD and the Constellation Program. It is through ESMD Space Grant programs that future NASA scientists, engineers, and mathematicians begin to dream of taking America to newer heights of space exploration. The ESMD Space Grant program is to be commended for taking the initiative to develop and implement programs that help solidify the mission of NASA. With the concerted efforts of the Kennedy Space Center educational staff, the 2009 ESMD Space Grant Summer Faculty Fellows Program allowed faculty to become more involved with NASA personnel relating to exploration topics for the senior design projects. The 2009 Project was specifically directed towards NASA's Strategic Educational Outcome 1. In-situ placement of Faculty Fellows at the NASA field Centers was essential; this allowed personal interactions with NASA scientists and engineers. In particular, this was critical to better understanding the NASA problems and begin developing a senior design effort to solve the problems. The Faculty Fellows are pleased that the ESMD Space Grant program is taking interest in developing the Senior Design courses at the university level. These courses are needed to help develop the NASA engineers and scientists of the very near future. It has been a pleasure to be part of the evaluation process to help ensure that these courses are developed in such a way that the students' educational objectives are maximized. Ultimately, with NASA-related content used as projects in the course, students will be exposed to space exploration concepts and issues while still in college. This will help to produce NASA engineers and scientists that are knowledgeable of space exploration. By the concerted efforts of these five senior design projects, NASA's ESMD Space Grant Project is making great strides at helping to develop talented engineers and scientists that will continue our exploration into space

Graduate School: Course Decriptions, 1972-73

Official publication of Cornell University V.64 1972/7

E-Learning

Technology development, mainly for telecommunications and computer systems, was a key factor for the interactivity and, thus, for the expansion of e-learning. This book is divided into two parts, presenting some proposals to deal with e-learning challenges, opening up a way of learning about and discussing new methodologies to increase the interaction level of classes and implementing technical tools for helping students to make better use of e-learning resources. In the first part, the reader may find chapters mentioning the required infrastructure for e-learning models and processes, organizational practices, suggestions, implementation of methods for assessing results, and case studies focused on pedagogical aspects that can be applied generically in different environments. The second part is related to tools that can be adopted by users such as graphical tools for engineering, mobile phone networks, and techniques to build robots, among others. Moreover, part two includes some chapters dedicated specifically to e-learning areas like engineering and architecture